MARKETING LIVESTOCK
Much has been written about the cattle and the men who drove them up from Texas along the old trails. It is not my purpose to add anything to what it was like on the trail. Neither will I add to the mountain of material already printed. It seems good to pass on the oral history as it has come down through the family. Grandfather came here when there were probably more Indians than white people. He told of one narrow escape when he hid in an old dugout. Indians passed it but did not look in. He planned to take a few of them with him if they tried to kill him. They were a raiding party. The army was trying to keep the peace but at best it was a bloody time. He also saw the trail herds that were loaded on the rail cars south of here. These cattle were consigned to the packers back east. How far east the packers were located I cannot say. I do know that in later times all the major stockyards had packing plants close by. Any student of western lore knows that the cattle shipped from Abilene and Dodge or any other point went to the meat packers. That is only part of the story. I suggest that anyone who would like to know more should read the book "Centennial" written by Michiener. It is a well researched historical novel of the cattle business in eastern Colorado after the Civil War. It may surprise you to learn that Sheridan County was located on the old Ogalallah Trail. This trail was used to send breeding stock into western Nebraska, eastern Colorado and points further north and west. Not all those cattle came up the old trail. A man by the name of Goodnight operated in western Texas. He sent herds almost directly north over a route now referred to as the Goodnight Trail. The longhorn blood has almost died out in these modern cattle bloodlines but never the less these were the first cattle that replaced buffalo on these western plains. They were well equipped to survive on sparse grass and dry periods. They could range many miles from water and their horns provided a formidable weapon against predators. Longhorns are making somewhat of a comeback. They are very disease resistant and seldom need help at calving time. If kept to maturity they become rather large but as a rule they do not gain as fast as modern beef breeds. Many people prefer meat produced by longhorns because it is said to be better for health reasons. I shall make no attempt to get involved in that issue. Just east of the town of Hoxie, Ks. is a well watered low land that was covered with excellent grass in the times gone by. This area was a bed ground on the old Ogalallah Trail. Traders supplied whiskey, cards and other entertainment for the riders on the trail. My father mentions this in an article that appeared in the Hoxie Sentinel in 1920 and was reprinted in the 1950's. The Historical Society has the Sentinel on microfilm and these files are available to anyone. As was mentioned before, the earliest trail herds probably went east across the Mississippi for slaughter but as the railroads expanded and the country became settled packers follows the railroads west. People in this area of western Kansas did not like to see the Texas cattle come through because of disease problems. Most of the cattle coming through were breeding stock. Ticks were a real problem. In a brief span of time thousands came over the trails but the practice of driving cattle such a long distance was short lived. The times changed and the cattle drives became only memory, eulogized in prose and song. My father born in 1881 took part in ranching operations in this area. Grandfather routinely brought young cattle into here in early spring, grazed them on the grass and shipped them to the terminal market in Kansas City in the fall. Some cow herds began to
develop, but until methods for handling large quantities of hay were developed, wintering these mother cows was a problem. Losses due to storms and even starvation were severe. Winter the cow as cheap as you can, was the accepted way. Over the years better feeding methods were developed. In the early days a cow was supposed to take care of herself on the dry grass. Supplemental feeding was done only during storms. It was truly a survival of the fittest era. Once grain became available locally, cattle were finished on grain and shipped to the packer in Kansas City and later Omaha. Loading stations were maintained at many locations along the railroad. A special train was run to Saturday to haul cattle and hogs. It would arrive at the market on Sunday and the stock would be fed in preparation for selling on Monday morning. All livestock would be consigned to a commission company who handled the sale. The owner did not deal with the buyer. In the fall the terminal markets were a beehive of activity. Stocker cattle from the grazing lands would come and be sold to feeders in the corn belt. At one time Kansas City had capacity for handling thousands of cattle. Monday morning was the big day of the week. I shipped my first cattle in the late fifties. At that time it was not uncommon for ten to twenty thousand to be offered for sale. Many hogs were also offered, also some sheep. Packing plants joined the stockyards. Livestock were driven from the yards to the packing plant. Swift, Armour, Cudahay, Mauer-Knauer, Hormel and many others competed for the livestock offered. Much of the Kansas City yard was under water in the early fifties. Some of it was never rebuilt. The terminal market declined rapidly, starting in the mid sixties. Large feedlots began feeding cattle and the packer buyers came to the country and bought directly from the feedlots. Now the huge terminal markets are only a memory. In the meantime what happened back on the farm? My earliest recollection is seeing cattle driven to Tasco on Saturday afternoon. They would be loaded on cattle cars and would be on the way in the evening. I can also remember a semi trailer that was loaded at my parents' farm in the late twenties. It hauled the cattle to Kansas City In the early nineteen hundreds and up to my time, local men such as Tom (Big Tom) Pratt and Hardy Bradbury would visit local farmers and buy what they had for sale. These men would, in the course of a year, ship hundreds of head to the terminal market. According to my father-in-law hogs were hauled in a wagon to the stockyards. They too would be loaded on the cars bound for Kansas City. He was a regular shipper to the terminal market. Community sales, as they were called at first, became a popular market in the thirties. Almost every town had one. This gave the small producer a competitive market for the first time. Anyone wanting to buy cattle found it convenient. They were well established by the end of World War II. The bulk of the cattle changed hands in the fall. I usually spent one day per week at a sale while the big runs were coming in. We would put together what we wanted to winter and feed for slaughter the following summer. The wind of change is still blowing. All cattle coming in and going out of this area are hauled by truck. This has been true for about thirty years. Many cattle are now contracted and a price is formulated long before they are ready for slaughter. Buying and selling feeders is often done by video. It works in this way. The video auction service will take a picture of the cattle offered for sale. These cattle remain where
they are located until they are sold and a delivery date is agreed on. On the auction day, prospective buyers will view the cattle and place bids via closed circuit television. What lies ahead? One thing is certain to occur. Change!!